WhileDrakemay hail from Toronto, Ontario in Canada, hishometown hero status has recently been called into question. As fans know, the rapper and singer has been in awidely publicized feudwithCompton nativeKendrick Lamarfor the past year — and the formerDegrassiactor has gone as far astaking legal action. But it looks like even Drake’s hometown is riding for Kung-Fu Kenny.
On Thursday, June 12, Lamar performed the first of two shows atRogers Centre in Toronto as part of hisGrand National Tour— which he is coheadlining with singerSZA. When he got to performing“Not Like Us,”— a Grammy-winning diss track, of which Drake is the target — Lamar was met with cheers andapplause from the audience.
This comes just over a year after “Not Like Us” was officially released, which, as of now, was the final diss track released between the two of them in their ongoing beef. Having topped theBillboardHot 100 for three non-consecutive weeks, the song has proven to be Lamar’s second most successful single — the first being hisSZA collaboration,“Luther.”
Toronto’s Response to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”
According to a report from Canadian news networkCTV, Lamar took center stage after performing “Not Like Us.” His face was reportedly obscured by the shadows, and thecrowd continued to applaud and cheer in the audience for two minutes.The outlet notes that many fans shouted “one more time.”
Lamar didn’t perform the song a second time, but the performance was more symbolic than it appeared. See, Lamar and SZA are performing two shows at Rogers Center on theirGrand National Tour— the second of the two taking place Friday, July 13. These are the only Canadian stops on the tour, however, it comes asanother L to Drake, asDrake himself has never performed at Rogers Centeron tour.
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This isn’t the first time Lamar hasn’t used Drake’s hometown to pull some subtle jabs at him. Back in February, at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, Lamar won the coveted Song of the Year and Record of the Year awards for “Not Like Us.” When he accepted these awards, Lamararrived to the stage dressed in a pair of denim jeans, a white t-shirt, and a denim jacket— an outfit also known as aCanadian tuxedo.
Can Drake Bounce Back?
ThoughDrake has yet to let up in the ongoing legal battleagainst Universal Music Group, claiming defamation, he still is attempting tomaintain his tradition of holding the song of the summer. Back in March, Drake released$ome $exy $ongs 4 U, a collaboration album between him and PartyNextDoor. The album contained a solo Drake track called “Nokia,” which has peaked at No. 2 on theBillboardHot 100.
On the same night as Lamar’s Toronto show,Drake and fellow Canadian rapper Smileyteamed up to drop their new collaboration“2 Mazza.”On the song, Drake proudly represents his hometown — despite the fact that his hometown evidently isn’t exactly proudly representing him. Though Drake doesn’t call out Lamar directly, he holds it down for Toronto, rapping “I’m in Barrie, Muskoka, and Brampton, f**k Hollywood and the Hamptons.”
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Though Drake has been keeping mum about the feud, likely given the ongoing lawsuit, it seems like he hasn’t been taking this lightly. During a livestream on social media (perHotNewHipHop), DJ Akademiks claimed thatDrake had made threats to Lamar’s team.
“Now, I’m gonna be honest with you, I never knew Drake speaking to anyone,” said Akademiks. “Drake has told me he’s never spoken to Dot directly, but I didn’t know if he spoke to anybody else in and around Dot. Anthony Saleh, he confirms to me, ‘Yes. Drake was sending voice notes talking crazy, like he’s a mob boss.’ That’s what he says. He says Drake is saying to him, ‘I’m gonna done you.’”
Earlier this month,Drake teaseda new album calledIceman, though he has not hinted at an official release date for said project.
Meanwhile, Lamar and SZA — who, might we add, is an ex of Drake — are set to take theGrand National Tourto Europe next month. As these two won’t bury the hatchet anytime soon, “Not Like Us” is proving to bethe diss track heard round the world.
